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Wild pay tribute to state, Blackhawks to city with Stadium Series uniforms

The Minnesota Wild are paying tribute to the entire state with their Stadium Series jerseys, while the Chicago Blackhawks are putting civic pride front and center. The jerseys will be worn for the Feb. 21 outdoor contest at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn.

There’s no more need for guesswork when it comes to what threads the Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks will wear when they face off for the Stadium Series contest at Minneapolis’ TCF Bank Stadium on Feb. 21. Tuesday morning, both the Wild and Blackhawks officially unveiled their uniforms for the Stadium Series contest, with both teams electing for a traditional look with slight alterations made for the outdoor tilt. For the Wild, the green jersey keeps the primary logo the same while introducing a brand new shoulder patch, while the Blackhawks elected to rehash a look similar to what was worn in 2015 at the Winter Classic contest against the Washington Capitals.

As part of the unveiling, the Wild released a hype video for the new uniform, which showed aglimpse of the uniform on Minnesota captain Mikko Koivu. At an event inside Xcel Energy Center, Koivu, Ryan Suter and Zach Parise modelled the jerseys and spoke about the threads. “I think it's cool,” Suter told Wild.com. “Like Mikko said, it's traditional, big numbers; it's just something different. I think it will look nice on the ice.” The shoulder patch, which can be seen below, is the same mark the Wild use to represent the ‘State of Hockey.’ The logo had never before been used on a Wild jersey, but it’s the perfect fit for an alternate sweater, and especially one worn for a marquee game. The ‘State of Hockey’ logo has been part of pre-game ceremonies for years andcan be seen throughout the team’s website. The Wild will also have a design on their pants. On Parise’s left leg, you can see the stylized ‘M’ that also appears in the Wild’s wordmark. For the Blackhawks, the Stadium Series jersey will be the first the club has worn that features a shoulder yoke since the 1991-92 75th anniversary season. According to the Blackhawks, the black yoke represents the cities nickname, the ‘City of Big Shoulders.’ Chicago is also paying homage to the city with four, six-pointed red stars, which are representative of the city’s flag. This is the first time the Wild will play an outdoor contest, while the Blackhawks will suit up in their fourth and third in three years. Chicago has a 1-2 record in outdoor games.